Prevalence of reovirus-specific antibodies in young children in Nashville, Tennessee.

Although reovirus infections are thought to be common in adults, there have been few assessments of the seroprevalence of reovirus in young children. We developed an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure levels of total antireovirus immunoglobulin A, G, and M in serum specimens collected from otherwise healthy infants and children (1 month to 5 years of age) in Nashville, Tennessee. Of the 272 serum specimens evaluated, 64 (23.5%) tested positive for reovirus-specific antibodies. We observed an age-dependent increase in reovirus-specific antibodies in children 1 year of age and older, peaking at 50.0% in children 5-6 years of age. These findings suggest that reovirus infections are common during early childhood.